Day 19; Sweeper Keeper

Day 19 was inhabited by two comparingly similar games, two group winners and established World Cup super powers, France and Germany, met Nigeria and Algeria respectively, with both nations trying to put Africa on the map. In World Cup terms, obviously.

Algeria had put themselves in the first knockout phase of their history, whilst Nigeria to emulate the Super Eagles' who found success at France 98, through the power, pace, skill and entertaining hairstyles of Taribo West and Jay-Jay Okocha. But overcoming an impressive so far French side who had been scoring at will earlier in the tournament was not going to be easy, nor was defeating a German side for Algeria, on the grounds that they're simply German, and therefore capable of emotionless efficiency in footballing prowess.

Entertaining hairstyles

The games were played out similarly also, with France-Nigeria being the earlier game, allowing the play to bask in the immaculate sunshine as well as the lime light of the TV cameras. Nigeria looked to sit back and keep their sheets clean, keeping a sturdy, well organised back four, protected by John Obi Mikel, who looked to initiate counter attacks every now and then utilising the pace of Ahmed Musa, scorer of a great solo goal in the group stage, and Martin Keown's 'Power Horse,' Emineke. All this, in addition with the the fact France were starting Giroud in replace of the far more exciting, Antoine Greizmann, meant Les Bleu had their work cut out when trying to break the deadlock.

Hours later, it was the same thing was cooked up by Algeria and Germany. Not for the want of trying, Deutschland food it difficult to tika-taka and 'False 9' their way through the Algerian barricade. With frequent counter attacks being inflicted over the high altitude heads of Mertesacker and Hummels, as the pairs well known lack of pace was attempted to be exploited, especially as Germany held such a high defensive line to intensify pressure on their opponents. Fortunately, Manuel Neuer had appeared to embody of the defensive abilities of Franz Beckenbauer, sweeping up everything beyond his defence in lightning quick time, charging off his line and cleaning up any mess made by his teammates like the Kaiser himself would've in the seventies. A perfect display of the 'Sweeper Keeper' role, and at times, an example of a darn good centre back.

Neuer's sweeping shown via gif. Algeria would've went one-on-one with him on 89 minutes

Neuer sweeping shown via heat map.

At nil nil both games remained, until France finally broke down the wall, via the head of Paul Pogba. Vincent Enyema had been sublime not just in France's national league, or 'Ligue' if you prefer, but brilliant enough in this fixture to deny France on repeated occasions. But with 10 minutes remaining, the Nigeria keeper flapped at a corner, which found it's way onto the tramlines and dyed head of Paul Pogba, whose looping header gave him his first of the tournament, and agony for the African side. Greizmann, finally swapped for Giroud, provided a second goal in injury time, to put France into just their second quarter final since Zidane's headers won the 1998 trophy.

Their opponents for such a tie were still unclear, as they waited on the 90 minute-long, yet exciting stalemate between Algeria and neighbours, Germany. The game drifted into extra time as result of missed German chances, and more outstanding goalkeeping in this tournament, not just the sweeping Neuer at one end, but M'Bohli of Algeria at the other. Another reason for the stalemate was a disappointing performance from Ozil, as the ("Yah") Gunners ("yah!") playmaker, quite simply struggled to 'make play.'

"How do I even deserve this?"

But two minutes in the extra half an hour, Andre Schurlle, on as a half time sub for Mario Gotze, reacted quickly and improvised well, as low cross came to him at speed and behind him, before the Chelsea man flicked it from beneath him and beyond the formerly unbeatable M'Bohli. This consequently opened the game up, with Algeria forced to attempt to control the game. Whilst doing so, they conceded a second, Mesut Ozil sprung through one and one with goalkeeper, with a chance to make amends for his lacklustre performance, with a composed, classy finish. But he completely bottled it. Perhaps scared of making a bad day even worse, he opted to unselfishly/cowardly lay the ball off to Schurlle, whose miss came straight back to Ozil, this time with an even easier, almost unmissable task of putting it in the empty net. He did just that, a undeserved goal if ever I've seen one.

Unlike Ozil, Algeria did eventually score a goal they did deserve, when Djabou converted Feghoui's pass in the 121st minute of yet another excellent World Cup tie, a phrase I seem to be repeating daily. The Germany and France quarter final should contribute to this trend.